of the treasury department. when we began this fiscal slope, curve, cliff discussion, tim geithner was involved, there was a sense jack lew would be involved. they were marginalized towards the end, and as glenn mentions, vice president biden was the guy to sweep in at the last minute to make the deal. congressional republicans sound like they don't really want to work with him. is that a problem for the administration? >> yes and no. the administration has done this in the past, you bring in the heavy to close the deal. it's like when you're trying to discipline your children, don't wait till your father gets home, you can kind of keep jack lew in the background to bring in him. there's a view of having someone who's strong, lew is not a fist pounder. lew derives his authority and respect from the command of the issues, and i don't mean the command of the issues, i mean the command of the numbers. he can dig down, divide fractions in his head. that's why he's a danger and threat to some house republicans. this isn't meant to be negative about the house republicans. they don't simply have sort